Sword Art Online: Aether Unleashed
by wetworkzNinja
Summary: The year is 4237. three powerful individuals with the ability to control time and space decide to go on a vacation. Nothing worth noting right? well, they decide to head to the time of everyone's favorite full dive MMORPG. having no idea what they are about to get into. Mostly OC centered, don't like don't read guys. T for mild and sparse language
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Vacation time**

* * *

Time: Unknown

Location: Deep space, Voyager class rift jumper, code name: Avalon

POV: Third Person

* * *

It was a quiet day on the mobile city. It's ten plus inhabitants going about their daily routines, doing maintenance, or just relaxing or having fun. An average day for them when they weren't busy saving their planet, or the multiverse... or timeline, yeah, they get around.

One such inhabitant was currently sitting on the ships bridge looking over past battles they had fought. Her name was Sergeant Madeline Avery Rogers.

She looked to be around sixteen to seventeen, had auburn shoulder length hair that was done up in a ponytail, she wore a light green T-shirt with a thin black long sleeve shirt underneath, she also wore blue jeans, green high top tennis shoes, with purple stripes on the sides and white soles, she wore a necklace with a golden T shaped rune with a glowing green gem located at the base of said rune. Her emerald green eyes flicked back and forth as she studied and re-studied the information, a neutral expression adorning her face. She continued staring at the holographic data flashing across the screen for several more moments before she started to hear footsteps coming from the hall behind her.

Her hand instinctively reached for a large knife that was holstered at the bottom of the chair she currently sat upon, but realized that only the most powerful of their enemies could enter this ship undetected, and ninety percent of them were either locked away in a living Hell, or dead. She stopped her searching for a moment and turned as the door opened, revealing a boy that appeared to be around the same age as her. He is known only as Cole due to him not remembering the rest of his name.

He wore a blue zipped up sweat shirt with an orange chest and near the hands, black gloves with glowing orange spots on the tips of the fingers and on the back of his hands, black track pants with gray stripes going down the sides, blue high top shoes with soles glowing the same orange as the gloves, and a black and red one strap backpack. His slightly long dark brown hair was a bit messy and his electric blue eyes seemed to glow. As he walked in he looked at the girl just staring back at him before letting out a sigh and smiling.

"Come on Maddy, you need to relax a bit, you've been in here for hours already. You should go out and stretch for a bit." The boy chuckled.

The girl rolled her eyes and she reluctantly shut the console off. "Okay fine, but what else am I supposed to do Cole? It's been two years since Cinos sealed Eix and the rest of the Dream Stalkers in the Black, we've been just aimlessly wandering dimensions and helping where we can. All I can really do is look over our old battles and learn from them." Maddy grumbled.

Cole shook his head and chuckled at his closest friends answer. "You have to lighten up Maddy, there's been nothing on our level for ages, and I'm not being overconfident here, we both know how powerful the Aether stones have made us. We're basically immortal and just one of us has enough power to blow though an army by ourselves. When ya have ten of us... well, there's just no competing you know what i'm saying?"

Maddy sighed "I guess you're right... but what else can I do? I've already worked out several times just today, helped Zero do some maintenance, played football with my brothers, sparred with Kamacura, Percival, and Kathros, and looked over some of our old fights... and it's only a little past lunch time!" Maddy exclaimed

Coles eyes widened slightly "Dang girl!... well, we could go on vacation. You and I haven't even used any of our days off yet, and we've been at this for seven years now so we have quite a few stored up." Cole chuckled with a smirk.

Maddy raised an eyebrow "Vacation? Well where would we go? If you haven't noticed there aren't very many good spots left after what happened those few years ago." Maddy responded.

Cole rolled his eyes "Come on Maddy, don't tell me you've already forgotten that you can control Time and I control Space. With those two put together we can go wherever or whenever we want! And I know just the time!" Cole announced as he walked over to the console and turned it back on. It flashed across several different pictures and times before settling on one.

"2022? in this timeline? What's so special about this one?" Maddy questioned with a frown.

"2022 me dear Madeline, is when the ancestor of our training simulator was born. As you know I was created around a thousand years later but I'd always wanted to see just how all of this Virtual Reality stuff began. And what better way to do it than with the worlds first full dive Virtual reality video game!?" Cole replied excitedly. As Maddy leaned in closer.

"Sword Art Online huh? Seems interesting, but how long would we be staying?" Maddy mumbled as she rolled her eyes at her boy friends childish behavior.

"A few days, more if you get into it, but one way or another i'm getting you out of here. It's not healthy to stay cooped up staring at holograms all day" Cole warned, this time leaving all of his happy attitude aside.

Maddy once again sighed, but only seconds after she did she actually smiled.

"Alright, i'll get my things together and you can tell everyone where we're going and why alright?" The girl asked.

Cole did a mock salute and exited the room, possibly referencing the fact that Maddeline was a sergeant back on her home planet for the Xeno Defense Force. But Maddy smiled anyway before getting up and walking to her room to pack her things.

"He's right, I really should forget about it, I mean it's just a game, it's not like anyone's actually going to die or anything." Maddy thought to herself not knowing how far from the truth she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

* * *

Time: Unknown

Location: Deep space, Voyager class Rift Jumper, code name: Avalon

POV: Third Person

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since the two dimension travelers had decided to go on a vacation and let their allies know they we're leaving.

"Hey Maddy! You almost ready!?" Cole shouted as he walked down the hall way towards his girlfriends living quarters.

"Yes Cole! That's the fifth time you've asked me and the answer is still the same!" Madeline barked.

"I'm just trying to get us on the road, the next chapter just started and all the authors are here already." Cole replied.

"Wait, already? I thought the next chapter wasn't supposed to be until next week!?" Madeline accused.

"I thought so too. Wetworkz must finally be getting off his butt and actually working on this." Cole laughed as he stood outside Madeline's door.

He stood there leaned up against the door for a few more moments before he heard the click of the sliding metal doors locks retract, causing the door to retract into the wall, causing him to fall backwards flat onto his back with a yelp and a grunt of pain. Madeline was just about to walk out of her room when she saw Cole falling towards her. She stepped back a pace, just out of range, and giggled as he fell to the floor.

"No need for alarm ma'am, just a standard protocol gravity check, you can go about your business now." Cole groaned as he smiled and looked up at his 'upside down' girlfriend.

"Alright then goofball, up you go." she jeered as she grabbed him by his hood and with a single hand, lifted him up off of the floor and held him there for a few moments.

"Lovely weather up here isn't it." Cole joked as he dangled there.

"Why yes it is, now lets go, you we're the one waiting on me weren't you?

"Too true Maddy, too true." Cole chuckled. "But I was also here to ask if you'd be okay with Logan tagging along?" he questioned. To which Madeline shook her head.

"Nah, I don't care, but I do want to know why she'd want to come though?" She asked.

"Oh good, I thought you might not want her to come because of that fight in the caves." Cole explained.

Madeline scoffed. "I told you, her, and everyone else. I don't hold any of what she did against me. She was under Director White's control back then, and I'd do the same things she did to keep my family safe." The super soldier replied.

"Alright alright, just wanted to make sure... anyway, she doesn't even know she's coming, It's just that she's been in need of a break than you and me combined. She's been doing her chores, training and going to bed. Not even eating. Not that she needs it but you know what I mean." Cole spoke, his trademark peppiness vanishing briefly.

"I get where you're coming from. She's lost nearly everyone she's ever loved before, and the only one left alive had his soul merged with hers." Maddy added.

"Yeah... now before we get into the rest of our lives, do you mind putting me down so we can tell Logan? We want to save some of the mystery until the story actually starts ya know?" Cole smirked as he looked this way. Maddy following his gaze soon after.

"So wait. There's more people watching now? Well, I guess that one month of knowing I wasn't being constantly watched was nice while it lasted." Madeline griped.

"Ah it's not so bad. Wetworkz isn't the type to follow us when we really don't want to be seen. I used to be paranoid every time I went to the bathroom, but now I know he never see's us in there." Cole chuckled

"Small comforts. But yeah, you're right. And I have no idea how I forgot I was holding you." Madeline spoke as she set her boyfriend down.

"Probably because Wetworkz forgot to say you did." Cole laughed as he headed to Logan's room to tell said assassin the news.

The tomboy laughed softly at her boyfriends antics before heading back into her room to retrieve her luggage.

* * *

Time: 2022

Location: Earth, old Japan, one week before SAO release date

POV: Third person

* * *

We find ourselves in twenty first century Japan, it was just as active as the history books portrayed it. Bullet trains zooming by on their way to who knows where, people walking driving or cycling, and just going about their daily lives. It was anything but quiet. That's why nobody noticed the small electrical storm going on in a nearby alleyway. It seemed to be some kind of green and purple vortex with lightning bolts surging around it. It grew for a few moments before it gave a muffled explosion like sound and a flash of light, moments later three figures stood where the storm was, suitcases in hand and pained looks on two of the faces, the third looking only mildly uncomfortable.

"Did we make it?" Cole asked as he shook his head to try and focus.

"I think we did... Hey Logan? Can you check and see? My ears are still ringing." Madeline groaned.

The third figure was a girl, seventeen by the look of her. She wore a gray hooded T shirt with a black undershirt beneath it. Dark gray cargo pants that were somewhat baggy on her, gray high top tennis shoes with white soles and blue stripes on the sides. Her golden eyes seemed to glow, and her blonde hair went down to her shoulders, and an emotionless expression adorned her face. All of her luggage was apparently stuffed into her brown back pack.

"Very well, I should be only a moment." Logan informed as she swiped her hand in a down ward motion, bringing up a holographic display of some sort. She then began tapping in several commands before scanning over the results.

"I have hacked into the nearest Data console. We are in Japan, and the year is 2022." Logan concluded as she helped her two allies to their feet.

"Are you well?" logan asked, if you didn't know her, you would have mistaken the way she asked that for not really caring.

"Yeah we're fine... this is the farthest back in time she's gone though, and our connection is making us share the load of the strain it's putting on her. We'll be fine in a minute though." Cole replied.

"Very well. I shall find you both a place to sit down and rest. I will be back shortly." Logan assured as she walked out of the alleyway and out of sight.

Cole sighed quietly as she left before looking towards Madeline.

"She'd be her own person if it weren't for me. Her own family, her own friends, her own place to live... she could've been a damn princess Maddy... Why'd I take that from her?" Cole whispered remorsefully as he helped Madeline to her feet.

"You didn't take it from her Cole. She made the decision herself, and if she could hear you right now, she'd probably tell you the same thing." she replied

"I have found the store you mentioned previously." Logan announced as she walked around the corner again, snapping Cole and Madeline from their previous conversation.

"Er- Thanks Logan... did you find a place for us to stay too?" Madeline questioned. While Cole grabbed his and her bags with only a little bit of trouble.

"I have not. From what you explained earlier, we do not have very much in the way of ancient Japanese currency beyond what we need for Sword Art Online and the required hardware. However. I came prepared for nearly all likely possibilities." Silver spoke as she helped Madeline to her feet and led them both towards the video game store where SAO was going to be sold.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me." Madeline groaned her hand which was currently covering her face as Cole was having a hard time holding back his laughter. Both reactions being caused by the sight of a decently large gray tent with blue and orange patterns set up near the store.

"From what understand, it is not uncommon to see people standing in line for days, or even weeks, to get an optimal place in a line for things such as this." Logan explained as she started to unzip the tent.

"I am NOT, sleeping in a tent that small with two other people for a week just to wait for a video game, I've slept in less for longer, but that was completely different." Madeline declared.

"Well I have to admit Logan, I didn't think you'd be the type to pull a stunt like this. I'm actually a little impressed." Cole chuckled. Logan tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Is the tent not to your satisfaction? I enchanted it to the best of my abilities and found it quite comfortable." Silver spoke, regaining the attention of her two companions.

"Enchant-" Madeline started as she finished unzipping the tent to look inside. Gazing upon what looked to be a less metallic and homier looking spin off of the Tardis before shaking her head a moment later. "Well this is better than what I thought it was I guess." Madeline sighed with tired smile.

"Is it not to your satisfaction? I apologize Madeline." Silver apologized softly.

"No Logan." Madeline replied as she let go of the tent flap and went up to the younger and slightly shorter Assassin a hug. "It's great, thank you. I know you have a hard time with Magic nowadays. So I know this must have not been easy." Madeline spoke as she squeezed a little tighter into the hug. Logan, not being used to displaying emotions, or receiving positive ones, just stood there not knowing what to do.

Cole, having just finished taking a look inside himself whistled then went over to pat Logan on the back. "Ditto to that Logan. I couldn't have done this better myself." Cole added.

"... Thank you. I appreciate your compliments." Logan responded before her eyes widened. Cole picking up on her slight change in behavior spoke up.

"Something wrong Logan?" Cole asked with a lower and more serious tone.

"I detect a surge of emotions coming from twenty yards behind me and closing. Can you see it?" Logan asked as Madeline let her go so they could both get a better look. And they saw a group of seemingly early to mid twenty year old males closing in on them with what looked like camping supplies in tow. Logan quickly zipped up the tent before returning to the side of her two friends.

As the group got closer to the three however, they could make out what they were saying.

"I told you we weren't going to be the only ones with the same idea." a slightly 'rounder' one called out.

"Hey! There's only one more group in front of us. We may not be the first ones in line but we sure aren't going to be last." A man with short messy hair and a red bandanna replied.

Cole couldn't hold it back and doubled over in laughter.

The one in the Bandanna looked slightly amused as they finally got close enough to talk to without having to raise voices.

"Hey now, I hope you're not laughing at us for the reason I think you are because you're doing it too ya know?" he chuckled as he went to shake Cole's hand.

"Oh no, no no no no." Cole replied with a smile. "I'm laughing because there are people out there that want this just as bad as I do." Cole spoke as he shook the mans hand.

"Are you kidin' man? This is one of the most anticipated games in existence! I'm just surprised there aren't mor-" the man was cut off by Cole slapping his hand over his mouth.

"Hey, don't go jinxing this dude! We wanna spend at least the rest of the day in as much quiet as we can okay?" Cole spoke in a semi serious tone as he took his hand off the other guys mouth and apologized.

"Ah it's fine man. Just warn a guy next time alright?" the man warned.

"Okay dude, sorry i had to do that, we're just a little superstitious is all." Cole explained as he gestured to the two girls behind him.

As he looked back to the guy in the bandanna, he noticed he was staring at them both with his mouth agape, his eyes shadowed by his bandanna. He also noticed that most of the guys behind him were in similar states. Cole realized what was going on and in the words of the immortal Baymax he spoke:

"Oh no." was all he got out before he was shoved aside by the man who put his hand out and did a half bow

"Hi! My name is Klein, age 22, I'm single and looking for a relati-." The newly dubbed 'Klein' was cut off by Madeline forcefully shoving her hand over his mouth.

"Look, I'm already taken okay? And even if I wasn't, I just met you. Now, I'm going to take my hand off of your mouth alright?" Madeline questioned in a low tone, it could almost have been interpreted as aggression but it was only mild annoyance.

Klein nodded his head apologetically, having snapped out of his... trance? Yeah, that's what I'm gonna call it.

As the super soldier in disguise took her hand away from Klein's mouth, he took a deep breath from his mouth due to his lack of oxygen.

"Hey uh, sorry about that little out burst there." Klein apologized to Madeline as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, causing Madeline to sigh, her apparently being somewhat used to it.

"It's fine." she replied as she checked on Cole to see if he was okay. "Just don't do it again, a second chance is all you get from me." she warned. Causing Cole to chuckle. "Ah, good times." he joked, Madeline wasn't in the mood to be reminded of such times and elbowed his stomach, hard. To the unaware onlooker, it would look like she caught him unaware and nailed him good. But what really happened was she elbowed him with enough force to put a decent dent in a car door. He promptly fell over with a pained look and no air in his lungs, possibly a bruised rib or two but his regenerative properties would take care of that in a few moments after that.

One of Klein's friends that was close enough to see and hear what happened grinned. "Well what about your friend with the blonde hair by the tent? Is she available?" the man asked. Cole having just recovered shook his head.

"I wouldn't mate. She's more the type to set your balls on fire." the maverick groaned. Still wincing as his ribs put themselves back together. The man who spoke had no idea Cole was talking literally however.

"Hmm, I think I like the sound of that." he smiled suggestively as he went over to talk to the assassin, having no idea that she had heard the entire conversation, and he also had no idea what he was walking into. Madeline realizing to late to stop him opened her mouth to warn him but it was in vain.

"Wait! He was being-."

Ahhhh! Oh ow gah haaaa! My balls are on fire, My balls are on fire!" The man cried out in pain while furiously patting his nether regions to try and snuff the flames as he ran to a nearby fountain.

Cole, ignoring the pain in his ribs caused by the state of hysterical laughter he just entered promptly fell over. Madeline looked divided between going to help the poor sap, but remembered he approached her friend with less than appropriate intent and left him. Klein however seemed to have the same idea as Madeline, but chuckled a little despite himself. Logan came over to the group of three confused, not that her neutral expression let anyone know that.

"Is is customary to approach someone in Japan and light their reproductive organs on fire? Or is it something I do not understand?" Logan questioned with her head tilted slightly to the side.

Cole having just recovered from his laugh attack fell over once again at the assassins reply. Even Madeline let herself smile at that. "Well... let's just leave it at: he was kind of asking for it alright?" the soldier smirked at the girl she had come to know as a sister. "Is this similar to the occasion that Delta attempted something similar?" Logan asked, receiving a nod in reply.

"Than was that the appropriate reaction or should I have done something less drastic?" the assassin questioned. This time it was Klein that responded to mild shock of Madeline and Cole.

"In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if you had done something a bit worse. Dynamm's a good guy, but he needs a good kick in the rear sometimes." Klein explained.

Cole and Madeline smiled, this guy wasn't as bad as they originally thought. Maybe this week would go by better than they thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Sword Art Online**

Time: 11:43 AM

Location: Japan, Old Earth

POV: Third Person

The three dimension travelers had spent the week with Klein and his group of friends waiting for the game to come out, and Cole and Madeline's suspicions of Klein were proven correct in the sense that Klein turned out to be a nice guy and fun to hang around.

After they bought the game, Cole remembered that he had some gold he could trade in for some currency here. So after he found a place he could cash in. They rented a room in a hotel for a few months. Yeah, he had quite a bit of gold.

"Okay, Klein said that the servers are supposed to come on in about seven minutes, so find someplace comfy cause we're going to be playing this for a good while." Cole warned as he took a spot on the nearby couch he slept on due to there only being two beds,before grabbing all three Nerve Gear helmets and handing them out.

"I will use my bed." Logan replied as she took her nerve gear and heading into the next room.

Madeline took hers and left off to her room. She opened the door to said room and looked inside. It had sky blue walls with fancy looking paintings on it in two of the four walls. The other two however were windows that took up the entire walls. It was a nice room, she still didn't think they had to stay in that tent for an entire week, but like she said before, Sil- Logan, did a good job furnishing it. It was almost as good as this room she was staying in. But she could think about that later, she only had another minute before this thing kicked off, and Cole had done a good job of getting her excited for it. Sure she wouldn't have her trusty pistols by her side but she could live without them.

She slipped her sneakers off and climbed onto the bed and sat on the bed, but before she put the helmet on, she just held it there and gave it a once over. Feeling suspicious all of a sudden. She turned it to get a better look at it, trying to see what might be making her all jumpy all of a sudden. But after finding nothing to confirm her worries, she just sighed. "it's just a video game Maddy. Nothing to be afraid of." she whispered to herself with close eyes. After a moment, she opened them again, and placed the Nerve Gear on her head and laying down. She took a deep breath to calm herself and took a look at the Nerve Gears internal clock, seeing that it had just turned twelve o clock.

She smiled slightly and spoke out what Cole had told her to. Not knowing that Logan and Cole were saying it all at the exact same time as well.

"Link start!"

Madeline felt dizzy as she went through what looked like hyper space, getting somewhat confused when it stopped all of a sudden and was replaced by a screen. "Welcome Player! Please create your Character." is what it said before dissapearing and being replaced by a stereotypical character creation screen.

She didn't know if it wanted her to make herself look like she did in real life or not, so she decided to go with the former. The only thing she changed was her hairstyle. Deciding on making it the short and messy style she used to roll with instead of her now signature ponytail style.

All that was left now was to put her name down and she would be done. And after doing so she was transported to what looked like an medieval city. She shivered, realizing that she was without a body for that minute she was making her character and didn't even notice it until now. She shook her head and looked herself over and found that she was wearing baggy tan leggings, a dark green long sleeved tunic that was sort of skirt like towards the bottom, red leather chest piece, boots, and arm and knee pads, she also had black fingerless gloves. And to top it all off, she had a curved short sword sheathed at her hip.

She frowned at the skirt but decided to leave it for now since it wasn't doing anything to impede her movement Her first order of business was to change the postition of the sheath from her right hip to lower back. She was startled from doing so by a flash of light right behind her. She immediately pulled the sword from its sheathe and swung it at whatever was behind her, stopping only inches from it's neck.

"Sweet merciful crap!" a boys voice yelled as he fell backwards to avoid the blade. And as Madeline got a lok at who it was she scoffed and sheathed the sword. "I should've known, is there something amusing to you about sneaking up on me Cole?" Madeline questioned threateningly causing the boy to laugh.

"Really Maddy? You're trying to use your tough girl voice on me of all people?" Cole jested as he got up on his feet again. Madeline pouted adorably at this. But Jack always says it's intimidating." the soldier complained in a slightly whiny voice. Cole laughed once again. He like it when she got like this. Sure he loved her for who she is, but she's always so uptight and strict, so on the rare occasions that she is like this he cherishes every moment of it.

He didn't look too different from how he looked normally, the only difference being that his signature mohawk was replaced by a short and messy style. His gear was basically the same as hers minus the skirt and coloration, being what was green to her was blue on him, and the same sword she had equipped was on his right hip as well.

A third flash snapped the two from the moment they were sharing.

They saw Logan in front of them. Exactly the same as she looked IRL. Her clothes were identical to Madeline's, once again barring coloration. This time, hers were light gray with sky blue sleeves and skirt. And once more, she carried the same short sword the other two carried.

"Well, it looks like we're all here now." Cole spoke as he made a slow slashing motion with his hand, getting confused as nothing happened. He tried again two more times before voicing his frustration. "Am I doing it wrong?" he grumbled as he tried once more.

"Are you trying to open the menu?" a new voice asked curiously getting the three players to turn to it and saw a girl that looked around their age give or take. She wore a white long sleeved tunic with a red vest and skirt, a leather belt, white leggings, red boots, and some kind of half chest piece. Her chestnut colored hair went down to her waist, and her eyes were the same color.

"Yeah, do you how to open it? The genius over here can't seem to figure it out." Madeline replied with a smile, grinning a little more it his grumbling.

"Yeah, just put your pointer finger and ring finger together and swipe down." the girl demonstrated.

"Madeline and Cole were somewhat confused when nothing happened but Logan was quick to explain. "We cannot see another players menu unless we are in the same party, or they have set it to public view." Logan spoke softly.

"Oh." the other two dimension travelers spoke, one of them feeling like an idiot.

Cole tried it out a few moments later and chuckled. "Well now I feel like a derp. Thanks Logan." Cole replied in a sarcastic voice.

"I did not mean to offend you, I was merely trying to help." the assassin replied.

"He was joking Logan. He thankful for the help." Madeline quickly spoke as she wrapped an arm around Logan and shot Cole a death glare causing him to shrug with a nervous smile.

"Anyway, thanks for the help. My name's Madeline, this right next to me is Logan, and the knucklehead over there is Cole." Madeline joked, surprisingly not elicting a reaction from Cole this time.

"It's no problem really, and my name is Asuna. Is that all or did you guys need anything else? Because I'm pretty new at this too so I don't know how much else I can help with." Asuna added.

"Nah, we should be good. And once again thanks for the help... oh! And by the way." Madeline spoke out quickly as Asuna turned to leave.

She swiped her fingers down like Asuna showed her and quickly scrolled through the menu. A few moments later Asuna perked up, most likely due to something Madeline did. Sure enough it was, the brunette had sent her a friend request. The girl smiled and accepted.

"Great. Anyway, do you maybe want to hang out for a little bit too?" Madeline questioned. Asuna shook her head in reply.

I wanted to get to know this place a little better first. Maybe another time though alright?"

Cole smiled. "Ah it's no problem, you can go on. We'll catch you later." the maverick answered as he gave her a two fingered wave.

"Okay, I'll see you all again some other time." Asuna responded as she waved and set off deeper into the colossal town.

"She was...Nice." did I say that right?" Logan questioned.

"Yeah, you got it. And yeah she was." Madeline agreed. Both girls blinked in surprise when a menu prompt showed up for them. "C013 invites you to his party." is what it said. The two looked to their friend and saw him nod.

They both accepted the prompt and watched as two names and health bars appeared by their name and health bar.

"Alright, that settles that. Now, lets go check this place out and see of they have some better weapons." Cole advised as he followed the path that Asuna had.

"Wait, if we're doing the same thing she did why didn't we stay with her then?" Madeline asked.

"You should know this better than most people Maddy, but some people like doing things on their own." Cole smiled and dodged the incoming shoulder punch his girlfriend sent his way.

"Weapons stall detected." Logan notified in her usual monotone voice.

"Wait... Logan do you have your powers here?" Cole questioned, somewhat hopefully.

"I have my strength, speed, stamina, memory, dexterity, agility-" Silver was promptly cut off at this point, due to the possibility of her going off naming everything she could do, and that would take a long time to listen through.

"That's actually pretty cool, but do you have your actual powers? Like, the magic, or, your snake steel? Maybe your shape shifting powers?" Cole added

"My magic and snake steel are inactive. It would appear that my shape shifting ability is still active however." the assassin replied.

Madeline got curious and decided to see if she had her strength and speed as well and grabbed a nearby rock, giving it a few tosses to test the weight before throwing it over a nearby building. She was pleasantly surprised when it flew much further and out of sight. "Huh, neat!" she smiled as she put her hands behind her head and continued walking.

"Yeah, this just got a whole lot more awesome!" Cole smiled as well. Unknown to the two warriors, their assassin friend was watching the with the faintest hint of a smile on her face as the three of them continued into town.

Half an hour later finds us just outside the town of beginnings. The three time travelers could be seen fighting several pig like enemy's called Frenzy Boars in an effort to level up.

Madeline had used her starter Col on a small kukri like blade around one and a half feet long could be seen in her left hand, while her right was occupied by a green metal buckler. It had two U shaped cuts out of the top and bottom of it and the edges were sharpened as well, giving it the appearance of an axe head.

Cole had bought a simple iron staff and sold his curved short sword for a straight sword

Logan used her Col to buy to get a simple hatchet, plenty of throwing knives, and she also kept her starter sword to use as a dagger for assassinations. She was currently using the hatchet to fight off a Frenzy Boar.

She had just vaulted over the offending pig and had landed in a crouch and reached for an arrow, but the boar wasn't going to have any of that and immediately righted itself and charged the assassin again. Unable to knock the arrow in time, Logan pulled the arrow from her quiver and sidestepped the pig and stabbed the arrow directly into it's left eye socket. The boar froze and disintegrated into hundreds of tiny blue particles. The assassin made note of the level up screen and dismissed it, looking over to her two companions and their fights.

Madeline had just finished off a boar by taking her buckler and hammer fisting it into the boars head by the sharp end, effectively splitting it's head in two before it dissapeared in a flash of particles like her enemy had.

The soldier saw Logan waving at her and waved back as she walked over to her. "This is way too easy. I thought Cole said this was going to be fun?" Madeline complained as she sheathed her kukri and folded her arms as they both watched the boy take on two frenzy boars with his staff.

"I saw why Cole would take a staff in real life, due to it having several ways of finishing off an opponent both lethally, and non lethally, but the damage system in this game would make staves inefficient. So why does Cole still use his staff?" Logan asked, just a hint of curiosity leaking into her voice.

"If I remember right, he says he likes them because they allow a lot of freedom of movement. Whatever he means by that I have no idea. But it's working for him so far, even if it is a bit inefficient." Madeline chuckled as the two of them watched the subject of their conversation use his staff to vault over one frenzy boar and use his drop momentum to stomp the others head into the ground, draining the last of it's HP and killing it. The other boar was seemingly infuriated by this and charged him, only for him to trip it up with his staff and expose it's stomach. Cole capitalized on this by bringing the metal pole down on the pigs rib cage breaking it with a brutal critical hit, it died moments later with a pained squeal and burst into particles like those before it.

Cole dismissed the level up window and walked over to his friends with a smile on his face.

"Dang girls! I guess being a badass in real life kinda helps out huh?" The maverick laughed as he patted Madeline on on the back as he checked out his drops.

"Alright, I got a whole bunch of Frenzy Boar Meat, pelts, tusks, and around two hundred col. How about you two?" he asked as he thought of things he could do with the items.

"Pretty much the same as you, but I found some weird item in one of them." Madeline replied as she opened her menu to look at the name again. "It's a... strange necklace. You think it's worth anything?" she questioned.

"I found a dagger embedded in the side of a Frenzy Boar. It is nearly two times better than my current sword." Logan announced, getting a whistle out of Cole.

"Nice! Weapon drops from level one monsters are pretty dang rare." He explained. "Anyway, we should be heading back to town soon. It's getting close to night time. We should go find an inn and bed down so we can grab some dinner." Cole spoke as he gestured to the setting sun. Madleline yawned and stretched.

"Yeah, I could go for a decent nights sleep. Those beds looked really comfy." Madeline replied.

"Very well. Nearest Inn would be near the entrance to the Town of Beginnings. We should arrive in approximately five minutes from now." Logan announced as the three warriors headed back to the Town of Beginnings. The stopped moments later as they heard the sound of bells ringing.

"Is that normal?" Madeline asked warily. Cole shook his head in amusement at his girlfriends paranoia.

"It's probably just the game letting us know it's the beginning of another hour or something Maddy, stop being so-."

"It is 5:22 Pm. There would be no bell to announce this time." Logan spoke. Shooting down Coles theory and wiping the smile off of his face as well.

"Then forget what I just said it's probably-." he was cut off as a bright blue light engulfed all three of them.

The three time travelers were deposited in the original spawn area in the Town of Beginnings, along with what seemed to be all of the rest of the ten thousand players as well.

"What the hell was that!?" Madeline demanded as she drew her kukri and brought her buckler to bear, looking around for something to maul.

"Warning." Logan announced dully.

"What? What's the warning?" Madeline asked as she continued to look for a threat. The assassins only response was to point at the sky. Her two companions and anyone else watching the scene they were making looked to where she was pointing and saw she was right. There was a small red "Warning!" box floating in the sky. All three of the time travelers drew their weapons when the one warning box multiplied so many times it made the sky turn an ominous shade of red. "Entity detected. Threat level: unreadable." Logan announced. Making the two warriors by her side even more uneasy.

"Since when have we ever found an enemy that Logan couldn't get a decent read on!?" Madeline whispered harshly to the boy next to her. Cole didn't reply however. He was too busy focusing on the blood like substance coming from between the warning bubbles.

"Well... we asked for a challenge I guess." he smirked as Madeline finally noticed what he was talking about.

"This is shaping up to be the best vacay ever!" he spoke as he got ready to charge.

**That's it for this chapter guys, Hope you like it. The next one should be up soon. If you like it, why not leave a review and tell me what you thought about this chapter and all of the rest I'm going to write... dang, I sound like a freakin robot! Anyway, that's all for now. Good day and god bless guys.**


End file.
